Pay TV: Wednesday, December 12

Brad Newsome

IF YOU think the title is bad, wait until you see the show. It comes from the American truTV channel, which specialises in fake reality shows (Southern Fried Stings, Lizard Lick Towing, Operation Repo) that use paid actors. In the case of Hardcore Pawn, the Detroit pawnshop and its owners are real, but everything else is suspect, to say the least. Tonight, one of the crazy customers comes in sucking a baby's dummy, so owner's son Seth offers one of his employees $20 to suck it - which he duly does. At least Lizard Lick Towing (9pm) can be funny. It's a bit like Trailer Park Boys with tow trucks.

When Paddy Met Sally, LifeStyle You, 9.30pm

THERE'S a delightful warmth about this Wife Swap-style experiment involving Irish traveller Paddy Doherty (My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding) and gaffe-prone aspiring Labour politician Sally Bercow (wife of the Tory Speaker of the British Parliament). Tonight, Sally is back in the headlines because she told an interviewer that her favourite gadget was her vibrator. Her hubby seems to have taken this in his stride, but Paddy is mortified on their behalf - it turns out he's so uncomfortable with contemplating the female anatomy that he changes the channel whenever a tampon ad comes on. Anyway, this week Paddy has to do the housework for the first time in his life, and he's aggrieved because he imagines it disrespects single fathers who have no option but to do it themselves.

After the Catch, Discovery, 7.30pm

The skippers from Deadliest Catch gather to look back on the crab season that was. Followed by a behind-the-scenes special.